The government and the opposition of the Lin and Han empires basically reached a consensus on the Shandong issue, and this situation is indeed a bit abnormal in terms of the current situation of the empire, because some time ago Lin Feng made a gesture of "recruiting talents from all over the world", and the imperial court was relatively open to the freedom of speech of the people, and it was precisely for this reason that a group of "Qingliu Party" composed of scholars appeared in Beijing, which has always prided itself on "loyalty", and this group of people is basically rich and idle, and many people are related to the upper echelons of the empire. If you want to investigate, just find a guy who is in the teahouse to talk nonsense about the government for a first trial, and you can find a backer among the high-ranking officials of the Han Dynasty, either a student of Gu Yanwu, or a protégé of Xu Xueqian, and most of these people themselves have a reputation for themselves, the reason why they have stayed in the capital for many years and can confidently ask for money from the family is also the reason for "waiting for the exam" - in the national society, young people sacrifice this magic weapon has an invincible effect on their parents, So even though they know that these people spend a lot of time in Beijing, most dads still have to pay obediently.

According to the original law, all the decisions made by the imperial court, they must be opposed - the word "against" should not be accurate, the correct word is "picking thorns", in short, find a bone in the egg to criticize, by the way, scold a certain big man in the imperial court "incompetent" and "stupid", of course, according to personal preferences and local origin, this unlucky court member can be any official of the empire above the third grade, of course, there are many doorways in this, For example, the scholars whose ancestral hometowns are from Fujian will naturally open up to Chen Menglei and Li Guangdi, and if the Jiangsu scholars hear someone scolding Zhang Shuyu, they will naturally come forward.

In fact, as far as the current situation is concerned, because of the monopoly of the canal and transportation, Shandong has almost become the public enemy of the northern provinces, and in terms of interests, the cost of eating rice and wearing silk for the northerners is much higher than before, and the difference in price has been taken away by those Shandong bureaucrats, and of course no one has said good things to them in this case; In terms of general analysis, throughout the country's thousands of years of history, there is no reason for the province of Shandong to be outside the central government, and the secession of one side is unpopular.

Different from the previous military operations, this time the Han Dynasty for Shandong to send troops to make a big fanfare, this side of the army has not yet come out, Zhili province knows that the war is going to, several prefectures near Shandong can not help but be a little panicked, the news came out, the opposite Shandong troops immediately put in order, closed the road to thoroughly investigate the pedestrian repair fortifications, put on a decisive battle to the end.

In fact, the situation at this time is far from being so tense, because it is really not easy to fight a large-scale war in this era, although at this moment the Han court has released rumors to attack Shandong in a big way, but in fact, the matter of sending troops has not been properly discussed, and now the problem in front of Lin Feng is who to send as a general, and how many troops to mobilize.

The capture of Shandong and the expulsion of troops are of course very different, as far as the current political situation is concerned, Mongolia and the Han basically belong to two countries, so the war with Geldan is a "national war", from this point of view, it is very reasonable for Lin Feng to drive the expedition in person, but if it is necessary to fight Shandong and Lin Feng personally go out, it is a bit too much to say, and if this is done, it will also have a great negative effect politically - on the one hand, the Lin Han Empire recognized Shandong Zhao Shenqiao as an opponent of the same level, Prior to this, the official propaganda of the Han court was that the Shandong regime was the same as Zhili, Nuergan and other places, belonging to the local regime, and could not be compared with Beijing, and the Shandong side itself also acquiesced; On the other hand, if Lin Feng really drove the expedition in person, then this expedition would be the "Emperor's Hunt", whether it was in terms of momentum or the number of troops, I am afraid that it should not be too small, so that the military expenditure is not a small amount, and what is more worrying is that this practice of "killing chickens with knives" is likely to inspire the fear of the soldiers and civilians in Shandong and force them to resist desperately.

Now the enemy army entrenched in Ludi is about 70,000 people, and the elite troops that can be regarded as able to fight are only about 25,000 people, most of whom are stationed on the front line of Texas, according to the analysis of this enemy situation, according to the estimation of the General Staff, the troops going out are probably controlled in about three armies is enough, when Zhou Peigong's recital was handed over, Lin Feng planned to circle the Second Guards Cavalry Army, the Fourth Guards Army and the Fifth Army, with a total strength of about 30,000 people, infantry, cavalry, and artillery, and because the Fifth Guards Army is a pure artillery serviceThe firepower can be described as unprecedentedly powerful, and it is estimated that it will not be a problem to conquer those large and small pillbox fortresses in Shandong.

But the selection of the main general who led the expedition has become a problem, of course, it is not the lack of good generals in the Han army, in fact, as far as the current situation is concerned, looking at the whole country, if you talk about which force has the most famous generals, the Han is definitely at the top of the list, its Ma Ying, Rick? Rachel, Zhao Guangyuan, Wang Dahai, Zhao Liangdong and even Daniel Zhang and Wang Jinbao in Shanxi, Shaanxi and Gansu, etc., are all well-known ace generals, and they can see who destroys who they can kill whoever they want, but unfortunately most of these generals are not directly affiliated in Gyeonggi, Wang Dahai appointed the power of Anhui Dadu to supervise the military town of Lianghuai, Zhao Guangyuan was stationed in Chahar and Chengde to defend Horqin, Wang Jinbao commanded the cavalry corps to garrison Yulin and guard the Western Mongolian departments, while Zhao Liangdong and Daniel Zhang were in Shaanxi to guard against Ma Harrier and Wang Ping Clan, At the same time, it also confronted the Dzungar Khanate.

The only generals who can be mobilized now are Ma Ying and Rick. However, Ma Ying's cavalry fought against Geerdan's Xue army in the last war with Geerdan, and suffered heavy casualties, although the additional troops this time, but in the end it has not completely recovered, so it is obviously too harsh to transfer him to the expedition at this time, and from the perspective of many bigwigs in the imperial court, it may not be appropriate to let this uncle go to Shandong.

Of course, this is not to say that General Ma Ying can't fight, in fact, although most of the Confucians in the court don't like this general very much, but when it comes to the aspect of commanding the army, no one has said that Ma Ying can't do it - this uncle born as a horse thief is good at leading strong soldiers, can overcome strong enemies, come and go like the wind, and those who stop me will die - it sounds magnificent, full of romantic heroes, but in fact, this style is the original "barbarian tactics", wherever he stepped on the horse's hooves, no matter how the battle went, most of the people's cities would be burned. And this time, the Shandong strategy drawn up by the imperial court is to "attack the heart for the top and attack the city for the bottom", if Uncle Ma is allowed to walk around Shandong, I am afraid that there will be nothing to attack.

So the only general with enough weight at the moment is General Rick, but when Lin Feng said this idea, he was unexpectedly opposed by Li Guangdi, Zhou Peigong and others.

General Yulin Rick is also a strange person in the Han Empire, if you talk about his experience, I am afraid that it will immediately cause a sensation in Europe, in fact, with the preaching of missionaries such as Nan Huairen, now his reputation has spread far and wide, basically foreigners who are active in Southeast Asia, it can be said that no one does not know this powerful Swede. In the eyes of Europeans, there is no doubt that the current General Rick is an out-and-out Chinese, but in the eyes of the Chinese, General Rick is still a foreigner.

In fact, according to the tradition of Europeans, even if the country and Sweden go to war at this time, Rick will definitely not hesitate to raise his sword and fight for the country, and even if his motherland is estimated to have no nonsense, but in the concept of the Chinese people, this is not quite the same.

Although Rick is now trying his best to integrate into the country's society, and the results are remarkable, he is now married to a little lady with little feet in Beijing, and gave birth to a lovely little Lori, speaking with a Beijing accent, from time to time will pop out a few sentences of "say, poetry", and the shocking thing is that he can now correctly operate the technical instrument of the brush, and at the same time can understand ink painting, and the level is not low, and the conversation is gentle and awe-inspiring, and at the same time the details are also done perfectly, He even put his curly blonde hair in a bun according to the Han pattern - this is a very painful job, and it is not a big problem for Chinese people to pull back and forth with straight black hair, but it is not easy for Rick to accomplish a little, and the pain is really not enough for outsiders.

These efforts do not seem to have been recognized by Li Guangdi, Zhou Peigong and others, although everyone usually calls brothers and brothers very affectionate when they meet on weekdays, but the inner estrangement still exists, to be honest, Lin Feng didn't understand what Li Guangdi was afraid of at first, but as soon as he heard Zhou Peigong talk about An Lushan, he understood what they meant.

This idea is a bit absurd, but it must not be said that it is unreasonable, although General Rick is now in a high position, the head of the Guards Army, the commander of the First Guards Army, and the rank of general, according to the original Qing court, this position is the Commander of the Gate, the Minister of Guards, but in fact, these things are all false, on the surface, General Yulin has great power in his hands, but in fact, all his power is based on Lin Feng, if Lin Feng is not there, then an edict from the imperial court can let him go to Nuer Ganbian.

Li Guangdi and Zhou Peigong's opinion is the recognized recognition of the government and the opposition of the Lin Han Empire, and in the eyes of these ministers, General Rick is not so much a member of the imperial court as a slave of the Han King - so in this case, it is okay for Lin Feng to appoint General Rick to garrison the capital, and it is no problem to command the inner class guards, and even follow the Han King to command the army is not a big deal, but if he is let out to lead tens of thousands of troops alone, it is absolutely impossible.

In fact, Lin Feng wanted to use some allusions to the Tang Dynasty at first, such as Li Xianzhi and others, to persuade his ministers, but unfortunately, with little success, basically all the ministers were tight-lipped, neither confronting each other face-to-face, nor nodding their heads.

If Lin Feng must use a strong force to pass this idea, it is estimated that there is nothing the ministers can do, but doing so will definitely cause a cold war between the monarchs and ministers like the last Qian Zhuang turmoil, so this approach is undoubtedly quite stupid. In desperation, Lin Feng had no choice but to choose among the remaining generals.

In the Guards system, except for Rick, there are not many officers who are qualified to lead the army, one is the commander of the Second Guards Cavalry Army, Brigadier General Zhao Yingkui, and the other is the commander of the Third Guards Army, Colonel Ma Jinliang.

In fact, these two officers were originally equal in rank, but Zhao Yingkui was obviously lucky, this time he followed the Han King to conquer Shanxi, although his performance was not very outstanding, but he also made a lot of military achievements, so after coming back, the General Staff commented that he was promoted by half a level, and he was promoted to the rank of general - this made Ma Jinliang very annoyed, you must know that in terms of the military system of the Han army, there is a qualitative difference between generals and school officers, although the rank of colonel is not very small, but throughout the entire empire hundreds of thousands of troops, There are at least a thousand officers with the word "colonel", but the generals are different, pinch their fingers and calculate, together with Zhao Yingkui, the brigadier general, there are only about ten people in total, it can be said that at this stage, once promoted to the rank of major general or above, it means that he has entered the highest level of the empire.

And in addition to personal future reasons, the gold content of this "general" rank is absolutely terrifying, according to the practice inherited from the imperial court, if there is a war in the imperial court, basically only officers above the rank of major general can lead an army alone; And even in peacetime, only officers above the rank of major general can "build a government and open a government", and on the side of the military town, they call themselves "this seat" in a big way, and most of them are compared to the officials of the feudal frontier for military affairs, and they are punished first and then reported - this is very eye-catching in any case, you must know that officers of the Guards system such as Zhao Yingkui and Ma Jinliang dream of being released to become foreign officials.

Only take Zhao Liangdong, the general of Koubei who used to sit in Datong as an example, on the official position is not big or small, on the jurisdiction of Datong Mansion, on the strength of more than 10,000 people, but the war together, the imperial court will be terrible, in addition to the command of 12,000 people in the headquarters alone, there are 20,000 militia under the command of the order, and at the same time can also mobilize tens of thousands of people, after the first battle of Jing County, the traitor soldiers in Shanxi surrendered, counting the people, there were more than 100,000 people, General Zhao Liangdong showed a smile Shanxi out of the sun, coughed a storm in Shanxi - there is no Lang Jiang this title, he will stay in Datong to drink wind and eat farts.

Although the Guards are well paid and have a high salary, they have no future as far as the officers are concerned, such as General Rick, although he is a general, he has no face to call himself "this seat" - at the foot of the sky, there is only one King of Han, what can he sit?!

And the colonel is even more unbearable, although he is only one level behind, but he is destined to be submissive under others, calling and drinking and running around, not to mention what is not majestic, even if he is not angry, even if he burns high incense on the ancestral tomb.

This time Zhao Yingkui caught up with a shit luck and was promoted to the rank of brigadier general, hating Ma Jinliang's eyes bleeding, in fact, these two people are a bit like Shi Lang and Yang Haisheng in the past, Wang Ba riveted mung beans very tightly, it turned out that everyone was at the same level, and they sneered at each other when they met, but now Zhao Yingkui is in trouble as soon as he is promoted, according to the rules, Ma Jinliang has to salute and say hello when he sees Zhao Yingkui, otherwise he will despise his superiors, Zhao Yingkui can take the opportunity to take him, so since the army withdrew to Beijing, Zhao Yingkui rode on a horse and went to Tianjin to go around without anything, while Ma Jinliang was busy all day long, and when he heard the news, he "patrolled" everywhere, and never gave Zhao Yingkui a chance to meet.

As a senior officer of the Guards, although he is not yet a general, he is also the sole leader of the army, and there are still many people in the court who sell Ma Jinliang's face, so Lin Feng's news of the indecision on the selection of generals for the expedition quickly fell into Ma Jinliang's ears, and frankly said that Colonel Ma Jinliang had been waiting for this day for too long, so as soon as he heard that there was such a thing in the imperial court, whether it was true or not, he immediately cut off his fingers, wrote a "blood book", and quickly sent it to Beijing, on behalf of the Third Guards Army to ask the King of Han for war.

Seeing this faintly smelly "Weeping Blood Performance", Lin Feng couldn't help but feel disgusted, but it also gave him an inspiration - in fact, in solving the Shandong problem, political means accounted for seventy percent, and military action was not too critical, so in this case, is there no need for the Han army to mobilize troops on a large scale to fight a big battle? ! In fact, now the strength of the Han army is known to the world, and there is absolutely no suspense about the outcome of the war, so what pressure is not necessary? !

Ma Jinliang's "blood book" probably also means this, of course, he didn't say anything political means or anything like that, the blood letter means that he patted his chest and guaranteed that the tens of thousands of rookies in Dezhou, Shandong don't need the Han to send an army to attack, and he can do it with the Third Army, so if the king of Han doesn't dislike it, Weichen Ma Jinliang should follow the work of dogs and horses, if he can't take Texas, he should come to see him.

Of course, this statement is a bit presumptuous, in fact, he and Zhao Yingkui's little bit of Lin Feng is also clear, and his stay in Gyeonggi before the Western Expedition is actually a credit, but compared to the bloody battlefield, it is still a little untabled, so this time it is a little impatient to clean it up. Judging from the current situation of the two armies, there are more than 30,000 Shandong garrisons on the first line of Dezhou, led by the good general Wang Chengye, backed by the fortress of Ayutthaya, and the canal supply is endless, and regardless of the combat effectiveness of the Shandong army, this geographical advantage alone is a little difficult to do, and the combat soldiers of the Third Guards Army are only 10,000 people, and it is still a little difficult to take Dezhou.

Out of this consideration, Lin Feng ordered to summon Colonel Ma Jinliang, commander of the Third Guards Army.

"Weichen is close to the three armies and Ma Jinliang, knock to see the lord!" Although it is the guard army of the King of Han, Ma Jinliang has always been stationed in the area of Tianjin, and rarely enters Beijing, and at this time he has expectations, so he can't help but be a little apprehensive, he knelt down and saluted, "The King of Han is a thousand years old!" ……”

"Oh, Jinliang is here," Lin Feng greeted casually, "We are all old acquaintances, don't be so restrained, come and sit here, I have something to ask you!" ”

"Thank you, Lord!" Ma Jinliang didn't dare to be presumptuous, sat down on his side at the bottom, hugged his fists and said, "The lord asks, and the ministers are endless!" ”

"It's nothing, just your request to fight Shandong," Lin Feng picked up Ma Jinliang's blood letter and said with a smile, "The army commander is loyal to the king, and the widow is very comforting, but you said that you can take Texas with one army, and the widow is a little unconvinced!" ”

"Back to the lord, the minister does have a strategy, and he can take Texas lightly!" Ma Jinliang's face turned red, and he arched his hand and said, "And you don't have to bother the imperial army, as long as the minister's third army!" ”

"Oh?! ......" Lin Feng looked at him for a long time, and suddenly said with a smile, "I said Jinliang, you are a high-ranking official of our Han Dynasty, this kind of military matter, don't talk casually, as far as I know, Texas is guarded by Wang Chengye, with strong troops and solid fortifications, if you say that the Third Army can win a field battle with them, I would like to believe it, but if it is a siege, then the outcome is unpredictable!" ”

"Yes, Lord Shengming!" Ma Jinliang was not discouraged, and insisted, "If you return to the lord, in fact, the minister's strategy to capture Texas is not to fight Texas!" ”

"Oh?!" Lin Feng was stunned, "I want to hear it in detail!" ”

"Back to the lord, in fact, the minister also knows that the city of Dezhou is strong and well-guarded, if we want to fight hard, then it will be difficult for our third army to eat, so the minister thought, we have to bypass this hard shell!"

"What do you mean?! ……”

"The art of war clouds, the impermanence of soldiers, the impermanence of water, the use of wonderful, with one mind, since the enemy army is waiting in Texas, then let's not suffer this loss!" Ma Jinliang looked at Lin Feng, raised his face and said, "The minister's idea is that our Third Army will start from Tianjin, go south along the Laozhang River, pass through Qingxian, Cangzhou, and Yanshan, and go straight to Leling. ”

"Well, this statement also makes sense, but I heard that the enemy army also has heavy troops stationed in Leling, and I am anxious, I'm afraid it will be difficult, right?!"

"Returning to the lord, the minister is in Tianjin, and he has been confronting the enemy army in Leling for a long time, and his enemy situation is naturally clear," Ma Jinliang looked solemn and hugged his fists, "The guard general of Leling is a general named Zhang Chang, and there are only more than 7,000 soldiers under him. ”

Lin Feng looked at Ma Jinliang, who swore an oath, but did not carefully inquire about the information of this enemy general named Zhang Chang, in fact, militarily speaking, Shandong is adjacent to Zhili, and the land is handed over for hundreds of miles, and flaws can be said to be everywhere, if it is really fought, there is no difficulty in taking it down, but the problem now is that the purpose of the Lin Han Empire is to receive Shandong smoothly and relatively peacefully, and it is to receive a Shandong that has not developed well, has a stable social order, and has not been ravaged by war.

Seeing that Lin Feng was silent, Ma Jinliang was a little anxious, he thought that his strategy was absolutely foolproof, why was the lord so hesitant, and immediately added, "Please rest assured, if the lord is happy, as long as we send a brigade of 2,000 people directly into the hinterland of Shandong, the rear of Texas will definitely be in chaos, so take the opportunity to attack it, and we will definitely get twice the result with half the effort!" He stood up and bowed to the ground, "If the Lord is fair to Weichen to fight, within a month, he can't take Texas, Weichen will come to see him!" ”

"Oh, Jinliang, please get up!" Lin Feng raised his hand, ordered Ma Jinliang to get up, and said with a smile, "Joke, what do I want your head for?!" Seeing that Ma Jinliang was a little embarrassed, he turned his mouth and asked, "Okay, Jinliang, you said that if you start a war according to your strategy, will it affect the livelihood of the people in Shandong?!" ”

Ma Jinliang glanced at Lin Feng in surprise, how could the army go out to attack the city and conquer the city, how could it not affect the people's livelihood? Not to mention the destruction of the battlefield between the two armies, even the defeat of the army and the rampant bandits are also natural, in this case, the common people can only help the old and the young to escape from their homes to avoid the war, so what can they do?!

In military affairs, there are only victories and defeats, there are no other factors, Ma Jinliang has never considered this aspect of the problem, in his opinion, the victory of the army, the local assessment, and then the recruitment of displaced people to stabilize the people's hearts Naturally, the imperial court sent a magistrate to take care of it, what does it have to do with him, the commander of the Guards? !

Seeing that Ma Jinliang was stunned and speechless, Lin Feng stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder, "I said Jinliang, if we want to fight Shandong, we can fight as much as we want, there is no difficulty, but now we want to take Shandong, and the people of Shandong will not be offended, this is a bit difficult!" ”

Ma Jinliang looked at Lin Feng blankly, and only reacted after a while, "So what the imperial court means is...... Take Texas, where the enemy army is the strongest, and then the rest of the country will not dare to resist?! ”

"Well, yes, quick response!" Lin Feng approving, "So although our Texas is tough, we have to fight - he Zhao Shenqiao also took this right, otherwise you think people will put a waste general on the heavy land of Leling?!" ”

Ma Jinliang suddenly realized, and then his face was full of depression. If he wanted to storm Texas, he would have to mobilize at least two armies, and most of them would be the artillery corps of the Fifth Army, and with his rank of colonel, it was estimated that he was not qualified to command this large army.

Lin Feng smiled, Ma Jinliang's thoughts were not difficult to guess, but at this time, he was ready to give this hot-minded officer a chance, and smiled at the moment, "That's it, I said Jinliang, this time you wrote a bloody letter to ask for war, and you went to Beijing again, and the widow is embarrassed to let you go back empty-handed......"

Ma Jinliang looked up in amazement, his face full of surprise.

"This time the Battle of Texas will be led by your Third Army, and I will assign the two heavy artillery brigades of the Fifth Army to you to command, do you say that you can beat that Wang Chengye to this king?!"

Ma Jinliang was very excited, and then said solemnly, "If you don't take Texas, Weichen will raise his head ......"

"See you again?! I said, can you change the word? Lin Feng shook his head and said, "Let me make it clear to you, your third army is in front, and Zhao Yingkui's second cavalry army in the back is ready to help, if you can't take Texas, you don't need to mention anything, think about General Zhao Yingkui's face for yourself!" ”

Ma Jinliang's expression changed, he pursed his lips, took a deep breath, and was silent for a long time before he said solemnly, "Please rest assured, King Han, I understand my humble position!" ”